My 2 year old red nose has progressively gotten out of control during walks. I had him on a choker chain and then recently upgraded to a prong collar. the problem I am having is that his whole walk is based on where is that other dog. When he sees one he starts going nuts such as doing the barrel roll to get away and a high pitched whine, just acting like a maniac. I want to put a stop to it because i want him to enjoy his walk and also it looks real bad since he is a pit. Any help would be much appreciated. thanks in advance

maberi wrote:I can't help but laugh at the difference in training articles between Michelle and Erin

It makes me laugh too actually! But don't let Erin fool you, she's all tree-hugging-clicker-loving-hippy on the outside, but she can dish out when she needs to! (and I actually respect her more for that)

ma67cpe wrote:

mnp13 wrote:How old is he? Have you taken any obedience classes with him? Have you been taught how to use the prong collar?

No none of that I have never had this problem before with any of my previous dogs.

I asked about being taught to use the prong collar, because prong collars are all about timing (just like clickers actually!) and if you don't have the timing right you're just working against yourself.

Michelle

Inside me is a thin woman trying to get out. I usually shut the bitch up with a martini.

Practice this back and forth in your house. This is what we did with Maddie. Then use it on your walks and eventually you will see how much fun a walk with your pup can be.

We would have treats in our pockets. While we walk we keep Maddie on our hip while holding the treat just above her nose. This keeps her focused on the treat and you and nothing else around. While in the house, walk back and forth keeping the treat at the nose and when you get to your stoping point have your dog sit and give the treat. Eventually do this on your walks and you should see a huge difference in how more enjoyable it will be to get some excercise for you and your pup.

Again this worked for Becca and I with Maddie. There may be more in depth or better ways to train your dog on it's leash, but this was the best way we found.

I've been using the Penalty Yards approach with Inara. Fortunately 99% of our walks are when it is dark outside, so my neighbors aren't looking at me like I'm crazy as we take a few steps forward and then I walk backward. Few steps until the leash gets snug, then back up a whole bunch. OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Every time we start moving forward again I say, "come on!" in a cheerful voice. She is sloooooowly starting to get it, at least when there are no distractions around. I'm also using the Premack Principle - if she will walk by an especially tempting rock (she loves marking on rocks) without pulling towards it, as soon as we are past it I cheer and tell her to "break," so she can go sniff and mark.

We're doing this on just her flat collar and a 5' leash - I give her about 3' of leash to walk in front of me since I'm not looking for a perfect heel at this point, just a pleasant walk.

It's not a fast process, but I'm okay with that. I'm no longer a fan of a prong for her, and the Halti kinda works but she can easily brace her neck and pull even with it on. The Easy Walk harness sucks for her as she can power straight through it as well. And the fit of it sucks. So now we'll just parade back and forth looking like asses, but I don't care!

"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

ma67cpe wrote:My 2 year old red nose has progressively gotten out of control during walks. I had him on a choker chain and then recently upgraded to a prong collar. the problem I am having is that his whole walk is based on where is that other dog. When he sees one he starts going nuts such as doing the barrel roll to get away and a high pitched whine, just acting like a maniac. I want to put a stop to it because i want him to enjoy his walk and also it looks real bad since he is a pit. Any help would be much appreciated. thanks in advance

This is exactly how My one year old Buddy is, and we are actually doing training and learning how to correctly use a prong collar, but the only bad thing about Buddy is that he won't take treats when he is too excited, doesn't matter what it is, he does not care. It's definitely a pain in the butt, we walk ways where i know he won't have any distractions but were slowly getting there. I posted here with the same problem and there are it feels like a million different things to try and training but I learned that you have to find out which one works for you and your dog the best, so I would start with the one you feel will work the best and go from there. Goodluck!

This is exactly how My one year old Buddy is, and we are actually doing training and learning how to correctly use a prong collar, but the only bad thing about Buddy is that he won't take treats when he is too excited, doesn't matter what it is, he does not care. It's definitely a pain in the butt, we walk ways where i know he won't have any distractions but were slowly getting there. I posted here with the same problem and there are it feels like a million different things to try and training but I learned that you have to find out which one works for you and your dog the best, so I would start with the one you feel will work the best and go from there. Goodluck!

Dar is the same way.......treats mean NOTHING when he is determined on whatever it is that he wants.....

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are Anger and Courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.”----Augustine

If the dog doesn't take treats while out for a walk, this is where the Premack Principle comes into play...

A formal statement of the Premack principle is as follows: high-probability behaviors (those performed frequently under conditions of free choice) can be used to reinforce low-probability behaviors.

We discussed this in another thread, talking about using Premack for fence fighting.

But I use this when I'm teaching loose leash walking too...(or training numerous other things). If the dog wants to go sniff mailboxes while out on the walk, I use that as a reinforcer. To get to the mailbox, they have to keep the leash loose...and we go to the mailbox to sniff/pee.

Like "if you eat your veggies, you can have ice cream" for kids. "If you do your homework, you can watch an hour of TV".

So if the dog doesn't want treats, I figure out what else I can use in the environment that is reinforcing to the dog.

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

TheRedQueen wrote:If the dog doesn't take treats while out for a walk, this is where the Premack Principle comes into play...

A formal statement of the Premack principle is as follows: high-probability behaviors (those performed frequently under conditions of free choice) can be used to reinforce low-probability behaviors.

We discussed this in another thread, talking about using Premack for fence fighting.

But I use this when I'm teaching loose leash walking too...(or training numerous other things). If the dog wants to go sniff mailboxes while out on the walk, I use that as a reinforcer. To get to the mailbox, they have to keep the leash loose...and we go to the mailbox to sniff/pee.

Like "if you eat your veggies, you can have ice cream" for kids. "If you do your homework, you can watch an hour of TV".

So if the dog doesn't want treats, I figure out what else I can use in the environment that is reinforcing to the dog.

Ditto. I use treats a lot, but the dog decides what is rewarding, so if the dog doesn't want treats, you can't use treats as a reward.

This helped with Renee's LLW a TON! I remember the first time I told her to go sniff and she decided to just walk nicely with me instead. I about fell over. I used it this weekend at Missy's too, to work on her recall. I wish I had filmed it. I called Renee to come to me, then sent her away again. She came flying to me every time, despite the fact that she was in a yard near the woods where all sorts of critters live, and she loves critters. (She was on a long line for safety, but I never had to use it.)